[Open Log]

[bearshermark]

Who: Elliott and OPEN to ALL Different!
What: Beach Partyyy!
When: May 31st, all night
Where: Rockaway Beach
Rating/Warnings: Will update if needed



It's a good spot.

Two diagonal picnic tables are parked a within roasting fork distance of the fire pit. It starts as a small, flickering fire, but once everyone's gathered, Elliott takes the opportunity to kick the night off and turn up the heat with the aid of a few magical fireballs.

There's hotdogs and an overlaying grill to cook up Yotsuyu's mix of meat and veggie kebabs. A cooler filled with soda and water bottles sits further away to avoid premature melting. Cookies and marshmallows or s'mores feature as dessert- or dinner, if that's anyone's preference.

For entertainment, Roselia makes a live, musical debut with Lisa as its sole performer. Meanwhile, Elliott does his best to encourage socialization and facilitate any necessary introductions. There's even a volleyball net and ball, and at least one attempt is made to form teams and get a game going.

But for the quieter sorts, dark, ocean waves lap at the shore outside the firelight. The weather is perfectly clear, and the location affords a rare opportunity to enjoy the stars. There might even be a cat playing in the sand somewhere nearby.

Some accouterments (like cutlery or extra chairs) might have been accidentally overlooked.

...He tried okay.

Comments

Yotsuyu Naeuri | OTA

[darkenedmoon]

There is a reason why Elliott's mother shows up fashionably late, of course. It may just be her tiny Mini Cooper that she's parked in the beach lot, but the back is filled to the brim with things he may have forgotten. That cutlery. Extra napkins, plastic glasses, all of these in a wicker basket to prevent the wind from taking them. A small table to put that on--the basket and the cake, of course. Said cake is simple enough--it just has a sandcastle drawn on it simply, dusted with dark-blue painted frosting. Edible glitter fireworks explode in the 'sky', and it only says "Happy Summer".

Yotsuyu herself has a white, broad-brimmed sun hat, ridiculous Jackie O sunglasses, and a cover-up, all in white, along with what seem to be heeled flip-flops.

"Sorry I'm late! The tofu wasn't quite right, it needed a little more!" And she'd brought more hot dogs and kebab fixings, as well as more dessert. And if there was a bottle of wine or two hidden in her car, well, that could be kept hush-hush, right? Throw in some of the fruit salad and call it a sangria. Everyone really ought to be well taken care of.

After all, it was supposed to be a party, wasn't it?

Re: Yotsuyu Naeuri | OTA

[howkickassiam]

York immediately sees that she's carrying a lot and leaps up to rush over and offer his help.

"Need me to take anything off your hands?" he asks, already holding out his hands, ready to accept whatever she'd want to divest herself of. He doesn't grab, though—that's a good way to cause everything to end up on the ground.

[darkenedmoon]

"Oh, yes, please! Thank you!" Most of the objects were by design light, but still, so many at once were pretty unwieldy, so the man's help was definitely appreciated, even as she divested herself of the folding table and the wicker basket of doodads.

"Elliott hasn't run out of food already, has he?" she asked, even as Yotsuyu turned to go back and get the smaller plastic bins of kebab meat and kebab tofu, now. She brings the wine bottle, too--it's a nice rose--but that, she tries to keep a bit secret. There's not enough to get any of the adults drunk or even buzzed, but it wouldn't do at all to get caught with it.

"How has it been going? Have you been here long?" She hardly tended to be chatty at the meetings, so it surprised her not at all that this gentleman's face wasn't terribly familiar to her.

[howkickassiam]

He took the table and the basket, then stood by while she retrieved more items. She obviously was in want of a conversation.

"I think there's still food, but it'll be good to have something set up for it," he says. "I've been here for like...half an hour? It's been nice to catch up—I've been away for a couple of months."

[darkenedmoon]

"Oh, really? Welcome back, then! I know this wasn't intended to be a party strictly for you, but we may as well celebrate your return as well!" It hardly hurt, after all.

"It's my son Elliott who organized all this, but obviously, I'm helping." Yotsuyu offers a smile at that. "I am Yotsuyu Naeuri. And you are?" Because clearly they've not met, but Elliott does keep trying to persuade her to get out more...

[howkickassiam]

"Garret York," he says. "Most people just call me York, though."

He joins her to carry the items once she's gathered up and gestures with his head at the young man in question.

"You're doing a good job with him."

[darkenedmoon]

Yotsuyu couldn't help but laugh. "It is nice to meet you, York--is that your preference, or do people just get lazy and not call you Garret?" It might be a pertinent question! She did rather call people by their preferred name, after all.

It's a slow procession towards the gathering, mostly because Yotsuyu doesn't want to drop anything even with York's help. But she does look towards Elliott, who's engaged in a heavy game of volleyball at the moment, and smiles.

"Hardly difficult to do a good job with such an easygoing boy," she admits. "I'd go into detail, but it'd just sound like bragging. While I've no problems with it, if it gets around to him, he'd only be embarrassed, and I do try not to do that casually!"

It's an important weapon in a parent's arsenal, after all, embarrassment is!

[howkickassiam]

"Preference," he says. "Comes from my days in school playing sports."

He laughs at her last remark. "Well, either way, he's a great kid. I guess he'd have to deal with finding that out if someone told him we thought so."

[darkenedmoon]

"Ah, I suppose that makes sense--it takes less time to call 'York' than it does Garret, I suppose. One less syllable. I've never been much for sports, however, I'm afraid." But she chuckles wryly at that.

"He would. And likely that'd be an embarrassment to him, as well. But I've tried to teach him, and he's learned on his own, too--he ought to know what that would bring him."

Yotsuyu smiles again. "So where have you been, since you have been gone for a few months? I flitter off and back to and from New York due to business, but my employer has been doing the out of state meetings, lately. It's been refreshing, I must say!"

[howkickassiam]

"My grandmother fell," he explains. "Classic 'old lady breaking her hip' story, I'm afraid."

He sets down the stuff he'd been carrying when he gets to a reasonable spot and starts setting it up.

"She's doing well now, though. Hates that it's so much harder to get around now, but that's my granny for you."

[darkenedmoon]

"It's good that she's doing well--you should tell her to slow down a fraction, so she does not do it again, if she hates it so much. But I completely understand."

Well, maybe not so much, as she doesn't have anything to do with her family nowadays, but Yotsuyu does know how she herself would feel if she had an accident of that sort.

"I believe if I had to sit still for a few weeks, I'd go mad." She wastes no time once things are somewhat stable to help in all the set-up, flashing York a smile as she does. "I'm very grateful for you stepping in, I do appreciate it!"

[howkickassiam]

"No problem at all," he says. "And yeah, my granny needs to accept that she's not 21 anymore." He chuckles. "I'm going to go make the rounds, but I hope to catch you later?"

[darkenedmoon]

"It galls me to have to accept I'm not 21 any more, I can only imagine how that disappoints her!" Yotsuyu chuckles, but nods. "Oh, I shall be around, I want to dip my toes in the water once I have this all settled. So go, enjoy Elliott's party. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you back!"

She gave him a little wave and a smile, and then turned to organizational duties. "Oh, don't forget to get something to eat!"

The last thing Yotsuyu wanted was to have to try and pack all these leftovers into the fridge at home!"

[howkickassiam]

"Absolutely, I will," York says, turning back toward her after beginning to walk away. "Everything looks great."

With that, he's gone for a while, socializing, playing volleyball, and taking a dip in the water. Coming back out of the water is when he runs into her again.

"Oh, hey," he says. "Still some food left?"

Re: Yotsuyu Naeuri | OTA

[consortofalderaan]

There were a number of people Bail didn't know at this party. He'd gone to a few of the meetings, and he was surprised at how "Different' there were. A month had gone by since his first - and so far only - memory and he was still meeting new Different.

"Do you need help setting anything up?" he offered when he saw Yotsuyu carrying items from her car.

[darkenedmoon]

"I think Elliott has a table set up already--however I don't know how much space it has! There's another folding one in the trunk, if you would, I'd be grateful!" Not only would it save her another trip, she wouldn't have to crowd the one table, or place things on sand or scrub grass that might not survive the process.

"I haven't seen you before, have you been out of town as well?" York had, after all, and even she herself got taken away on business trips from time to time, so it wasn't a question that was incredibly outre.

[consortofalderaan]

Bail hastily went to the trunk and pulled out the extra folding table. Then he followed Yotsuyu to where she wanted it set up.

"I'm newer," he explained. "I started getting memories at the start of May. I've been to a few meetings, but I don't recall seeing you at any of the ones I attended. I must of missed you."